I was working on some date related functionality the other day during which I discovered some really useful date functions in X++. Some of you might be familiar with some of this already, however it is always good to have a blog post out there that lists them all for future reference. I have also added sample code for the usage of each function.
Initialization
A date variable can be initialized with a date constant. The date literal in X++ has a predefined format i.e. dd\MM\yyyy. Note that backslash is used instead of forward slash and unlike string constants neither single nor double quotes is used.
transDate = 01\01\2015;
today
Returns the date of the machine on which the code is run.
transDate = today();
systemDateGet
Returns the session date in AX. You can view/set the session date and time using File > Tools > Session date and time.
transDate = systemDateGet();
mkDate
Creates a date using the specified day, month and year components.
transDate = mkDate(31, 12, 2015);
Boundaries
Minimum value is January 1, 1900 also know as a null date. Maximum value is December 31, 2154.
info(strFmt("%1", dateNull()));
info(strFmt("%1", dateMax()));
Arithmetic
Plus and minus operators can be used to add or subtract days to a date. Minus operator used with date operands calculates the difference in days.
resultDate = transDate + 14;
info(strFmt("%1", resultDate));
resultDate = transDate - 21;
info(strFmt("%1", resultDate));
info(int2str(transDate - dateNull()));
Day related functions
dayName
Returns name of the specified day in a week. It takes a serial number representing day of week e.g. 1 (Monday), 7 (Sunday) and 8 (Monday).
info(dayName(2));
dayOfMth
Returns day component of the specified date.
info(int2str(dayOfMth(transDate)));
dayOfWk
Returns a serial number representing day of the week in which the specified date falls. You may use the output of this as an input to the dayName function.
info(int2str(dayOfWk(transDate)));
dayOfYr
Returns a serial number representing day of the year in which the specified date falls. e.g. 3 (Jan 3) and 32 (Feb 1).
info(int2str(dayOfYr(transDate)));
Week related functions
wkOfYr
Returns a serial number representing week of the year in which the specified date falls.
info(int2str(wkOfYr(transDate)));
dateStartWk
Returns a date of first day in the week in which the specified date falls.
resultDate = dateStartWk(transDate);
info(strFmt("%1", resultDate));
dateEndWk
Returns a date of last day in the week in which the specified date falls.
resultDate = dateEndWk(transDate);
info(strFmt("%1", resultDate));
Month related functions
mthName
Returns name of the specified month in a year. It takes a serial number representing month of year e.g. 1 (Jan), 9 (Sep) and 15 (Mar).
info(mthName(5));
mthOfYr
Returns month component of the specified date. You may use the output of this as an input to the mthName function.
info(int2str(mthOfYr(transDate)));
prevMth
Returns a date in the previous month that corresponds most closely to the specified date.
resultDate = prevMth(transDate);
info(strFmt("%1", resultDate));
nextMth
Returns a date in the following month that corresponds most closely to the specified date.
resultDate = nextMth(transDate);
info(strFmt("%1", resultDate));
dateStartMth
Returns date of the first day of the month in which the specified date falls.
resultDate = dateStartMth(transDate);
info(strFmt("%1", resultDate));
dateEndMth
Returns date of the last day of the month in which the specified date falls.
resultDate = dateEndMth(transDate);
info(strFmt("%1", resultDate));
dateMthFwd
Returns a date after adding the specified number of months to the date. You may also pass a negative value to subtract the months.
resultDate = dateMthFwd(transDate, 6);
info(strFmt("%1", resultDate));
Quarter related functions
date2Qtr
Returns a serial number representing quarter in which the specified date falls e.g. 1 (Jan-Mar).
dateString = int2str(date2Qtr(transDate));
info(dateString);
prevQtr
Returns a date in the previous quarter that corresponds most closely to the specified date.
resultDate = prevQtr(transDate);
info(strFmt("%1", resultDate));
nextQtr
Returns a date in the following quarter that corresponds most closely to the specified date.
resultDate = nextQtr(transDate);
info(strFmt("%1", resultDate));
dateStartQtr
Returns date of the first day of the quarter in which the specified date falls.
resultDate = dateStartQtr(transDate);
info(strFmt("%1", resultDate));
dateEndQtr
Returns date of the last day of the quarter in which the specified date falls.
resultDate = dateEndQtr(transDate);
info(strFmt("%1", resultDate));
Year related functions
year
Returns the year component of the specified date.
info(int2str(year(transDate)));
yearDiff
Calculates the difference in years between the two dates. First date should be greater than the second for a +ve difference.
info(int2str(yearDiff(transDate, dateNull())));
prevYr
Returns a date in the previous year that corresponds most closely to the specified date.
resultDate = prevYr(transDate);
info(strFmt("%1", resultDate));
nextYr
Returns a date in the following year that corresponds most closely to the specified date.
resultDate = nextYr(transDate);
info(strFmt("%1", resultDate));
dateStartYr
Returns date of the first day of the year in which the specified date falls.
resultDate = dateStartYr(transDate);
info(strFmt("%1", resultDate));
dateEndYr
Returns date of the last day of the year in which the specified date falls.
resultDate = dateEndYr(transDate);
info(strFmt("%1", resultDate));
Conversion functions
date2num
Converts a date to an integer that corresponds to the number of days since 1 January, 1900.
dateString = int2str(date2num(transDate));
info(dateString);
date2str
Converts a date to a string using the provided format specifiers.
dateString = date2str(transDate, 321, DateDay::Digits2, DateSeparator::Slash, DateMonth::Digits2, DateSeparator::Slash, DateYear::Digits4, DateFlags::None);
info(dateString);
Pass -1 for all format specifiers to get a date formatted as per the user’s regional settings.
dateString = date2str(transDate, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1);
info(dateString);
date2StrUsr
Converts a date in to a string as per the user’s regional settings.
dateString = date2StrUsr(transDate);
info(dateString);
date2StrXpp
Converts a date in to an X++ date literal. Use this when adding date ranges to query build data sources using code.
dateString = date2StrXpp(transDate);
info(dateString);
date2Julian
Converts a Gregorian date into Julian date with format yyyyddd. ddd is the number of days elapsed in the year yyyy.
dateString = date2Julian(transDate);
info(dateString);
str2Date
Converts a string to date.
resultDate = str2Date("2015.12.25", 321);
info(strFmt("%1", resultDate));
str2DateDMY
Converts a string in DMY format to a date.
resultDate = str2DateDMY("14-08-1947");
info(strFmt("%1", resultDate));
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